May 18, 1997 message
Long Green Valley Church of the Brethren
Glen Arm, Maryland USA
based upon Acts 2:1-21

In the gospel story as we have received it there was a day when all heaven broke loose.
Through the eyes of our children earlier in worship, we tried to imagine what it must have
been like. Sometimes we adults get bogged down in the details and dont allow our
spirits to soar, which is what this story entails. Its about people who are set on
fire. Its about a mighty wind that blows, like the whirlwind out of which God spoke
to Job. You recall that fellow, dont you? He is every man or woman who has wondered
why bad things happen to good people. In his own Old Testament book, Job persistently
demands of God: Why? When the Lord finally responds - out of a whirlwind, mind you - the
speech doesnt really answer Jobs question at all. Even so, he is given what he
needs to move on from that point - out of the whirlwind...

It was a similar wind that blew through that upstairs room in Jerusalem on the first
Pentecost. Actually, I have no idea if that is exactly where it all happened - an upper
room, that is. The details are a bit sketchy, as if to say that theyre not as
important as what then happened.

The book of Acts, the story of the early church, begins with a goodbye. Jesus, who had
risen from the dead, said his farewell with a promise that this was but the beginning, not
the end. Returning from Mt. Olivet where he gave his leave, the disciples spent a lot of
time in their rented apartment. It wasnt just the 11 remaining "official"
disciples (remember, Judas Iscariot was no longer among them). The wider band of followers
was there with them, including all the women and the family of Jesus. It says that there
were about 120 of them. Whether they all were crammed into that upstairs room is not
exactly clear. They had business to do - picking someone to replace Judas. Other than this
they may have been clueless. What now?

It says they spent a lot of time praying, though it doesnt say what they were
praying about or for. They werent scattered, though, each one closeted in their own
little space. They were, as it says, "all together in one place." Could it be
they were wondering "why?" No, it wasnt "why do bad things happen to
good people?" They had just experienced the opposite - good things happening to bad
people: Jesus embracing the very people who put him to death; loving his followers who
denied or ran away from him in fear; forgiving even as they stretched him out on a cross.
No, they probably werent pondering in prayer why bad things happen to good people.

The resurrection was, no doubt, still a vivid, though confusing memory. How? Why? Maybe
those questions were in their minds as they prayed. Or, more recently, they couldve
been praying their way through the question "why did Jesus leave?" After all, it
was obvious this was only the beginning. If even death couldnt stop this Messiah,
then the sky was the limit. Why leave at this point? How were they supposed to know what
to do without Jesus? Yes, he had promised that a Holy Spirit would come, but what on earth
(or in heaven) did that mean? Maybe there was a bit a grief going on - not the mourning
that took place after they put his dead body in the tomb on that dreary Friday before the
first Easter - but the grief that accompanies any kind of change. In order to step into
the new, you have to let go of the old, which is never easy.

Again, we dont know what they were praying, all together in one place. Likewise,
we dont know exactly where it was they were praying, whether it was like a bunch of
sardines in that upstairs room or in the entire building. It just doesnt say. What
it does say is that out of a whirlwind God spoke. Unlike with Job, we arent privy to
the words. But God touched each person right where they were sitting. And an amazing thing
happened. Now, its important that we not get blown away by the details. After all,
how can one adequately put such things into words. "Divided tongues, as of fire ...
resting on each of them," how would you visualize that? This is language of the
imagination, which is why kids pick it up so much easier than we do.

These folks were set on fire, all of them - not just the "official"
disciples. Furthermore, it is all of them who then speak for God. Dont get so
wrapped up in this business of talking in other languages that you miss whats
happening. Its not the experience of speaking in tongues that is the big deal, as
significant as that was. Whats most important is that everyone is given a good word
to speak, and they share it in a diversity of languages, a multiplicity of ways. Every
single person. Not just an elite few.

When Peter later tried to explain what was happening, he reached back to the prophet
Joel, words with which we began our worship this morning. "I will pour out my Spirit
upon ALL flesh": young and old, men and women, even those who are caught up in
slavery. The inexperienced will receive such wisdom that far exceeds their years. Those
who thought theyd seen everything will be empowered to see something altogether new
- to dream once again. Even the rotten things that happen to good people will somehow fit
into the larger picture of what God is about in this world. "Everyone who calls on
the name of the Lord," all who reach out to God because of Jesus, "shall be
saved." That was the promise Peter saw being realized that day.

Of course, the details always catch us. Face it, it was a messy experience. When the
wind blows, the house is a mess. Maybe thats another reason kids might like this
story so much. When theyre on the loose, their primary concern isnt
"clean up." I shudder, for instance, whenever two or more are gathered in our
playroom. There are times when a call to the President to declare a "National
Disaster Area" is contemplated. Kids are messy. So is this Pentecost story. If
youre looking for order in your life, maybe this isnt the text for you.
However, sometimes our desire for order also gets a bit out of hand.
"Cleanliness" may be "next to Godliness," as John Wesley once said,
but it can also be quite sterile. That is, the messy times in our lives, when it feels
like things are beyond our control, are often the periods when we grow the most, when
something new is born. It may not feel that way at the time, though. On that first
Pentecost many were quite perplexed. Many still are.

Its interesting that we have this scripture before us on this day. In this
account, as we have received it, Jerusalem was filled with pilgrims from all over. It
says, "devout Jews from every nation under heaven" were there to celebrate the
feast of Pentecost, a Jewish holy day. This is a text some of you pray is not the
scripture you have to read when you take your turn as worship leader. Some real tongue
twisters reveal where these folks called home: "Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and
residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia,
Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and
proselytes, Cretans and Arabs." These visitors to Jerusalem, it says, heard the
disciples speak in their own home language. Im sure they had quite a story to tell
when they returned to their families.

South of Egypt is the modern day African nation of Kenya. The Holy Spirit has been at
work there as surely as this wind as been blowing in our land. In 1955, the same year in
which I was born, Daniel Ngugi became the sixth child of his parents who lived in the
village of Gatanga. As an adult he heard the good news of Jesus Christ, and responded to
Gods call. His church called him to ministry, and eventually the Holy Spirit blew
him across an ocean to the United States where just last month he graduated with a
seminary degree. He has a vision of returning to his homeland and starting a new mission,
where people can learn a trade, where medical assistance can be provided, where Gods
good news can be shared.

Last Wednesday your Executive committee met with Daniel to see if God was calling him
here to be our summer pastor. I believe that, in so calling him (as we have), we are
moving with the wind of the Holy Spirit. He will begin his work here on June 2nd. I pray
that you will accept him as a brother-in-Christ, that you will seek to listen past his
accent and hear the Spirit speak in your own language, that you will look past the color
of his skin and the differences between our two cultures and allow God to "move in
our midst" (as we so often sing) in new ways. He comes to us ordained to the ministry
by his church in Kenya, having served among the Mennonites and the Brethren, most recently
as the summer pastor of the Moorefield, WV Church of the Brethren last year. When I spoke
with the pastors son there, he said Daniel was "cool," about as rousing an
endorsement as one might get from a teenager.

This new development excites me. My only reservation is that I wont be here for a
good portion of the summer. This really feels right, as if God is a part of it. Do you
know what I mean when I say that? Wed interviewed another person, but I came away
feeling like if we had called her, we primarily would have been just "filling the
pulpit." As important as that may be, is it enough? Wheres the wind? After last
Wednesday night, I feel it blowing. I hope you will also.

A few years back, as I was looking ahead to this sabbatical time you are providing for
me, I dreamed of an exchange of ministers, me going to Nigeria, and a pastor from there
coming here. That didnt become a reality, for a number of reasons. Still, perhaps
God has had something similar in mind, to provide us a fresh breath of the Holy Spirit,
and Daniel is part of it. I pray that is so. I was intrigued by his shared vision of what
he intends to do when he returns to Kenya. Some of you are aware that Ive been
struggling myself with a sense of vision. Its natural in mid-life (which is where I
am) to be in this place, trying to "dream new dreams," as the prophet Joel said,
to seek a vision - a word from the Lord - without which the people (myself included)
perish, as the author of Proverbs wrote. Thank you so much, from the bottom of my heart,
for time and space away from ministry to be renewed, to spend time with my family, to seek
out Gods vision for my life and our life together in Christ. May the wind blow. Pray
for me.

Please pray, also, for your denomination. Major changes are coming before Annual
Conference this July, at which I will serve as your delegate. Perhaps youve been
reading about them in the "Messenger" magazine or elsewhere. At our council
meeting this afternoon, I will be sharing what I understand to be the issues involved,
seeking clarification and counsel from you that I might serve rightly. Suffice it to say,
for now, that I am in basic agreement with the need for change. I, like many others, have
concerns for the process for how it is being done. Pray that the wind of the Holy Spirit
will blow through that Conference. I have a feeling its going to be a messy
experience (I almost wish I hadnt offered to be your delegate). Then, again, that
birthday of the church so long ago, was quite messy, too. However, that very wind has
propelled the church of Jesus Christ for a couple thousand years, and the forecast says
that in these last days God will continue pouring out this Spirit, as messy as it may be
at times. Will we see that as good news? I pray so, whether it be in the wider church, or
in this congregation. Amen.